Overexposed (In General)

[SabrinaO]

How do you determine a picture to be overexposed? I think if the picture is completely blown to the point where its blue and if you can't see any details then yes it's overexposed. But if a picture has a couple hot spots I don't think the ENTIRE picture is overexposed. I think many people are quick to label a pic as overexposed when in fact a slight overexposure can be a good look. There's a thread here called "Melissa" and a lot of you were commenting saying the first pic was overexposed but I think it looks perfect and it works! My other thread called "overexposure?" people said the same but I again think it works. Am I the only one that is a fan of a slight overexposure... only if it works??

 

[AUG19]

If the luminance & RGB histograms are displaying clipped data beyond the limit of the highest stop.

 

[AUG19]

 

[subscuck]

Don't confuse "High Key" with overexposed. I personally don't care for High Key, everyone's taste is different. With High Key, you're controlling things with lighting, and controlling your highlites, mid tones and shadows. When you just push all the data so it's climbing the right side of the histogram, that's overexposure and it looks like ****e. And it never "works".

 

[The_Traveler]

It may be that your monitor is too dark and your own pictures look fine while actually being overexposed.

If you are referring to other threads, it is useful to include a link so that people don't actually have to search for them.
I did look at your web site and it is my opinion that you aren't lighting shots well. they are generally very contrasty (and not in a good way).
There is a big difference between high key and overexposed.

 

[clanthar]

As a general rule our expectation is to capture the detail and color of what we photograph. On the highlight end a failure to do that gives us burned out white. As AUG19 noted we clip the histogram. The range of tone in our photos is divided up into 256 discrete steps. If you look at AUG19,s illustration above you'll see the number 255 at the right corner of the graph. If your photo has values of 255 in it then you have no detail or color there. Exceptions where this is appropriate are direct light sources and reflections. Light reflecting of a motorcycle's chrome is an example. Otherwise there was detail and color in what you saw and it should be recorded.

On the shadow end the same thing happens, detail and color drop down into black. This however is OK and expected. In very flat lighting the dynamic range may be small enough that we can capture it end to end. However on a typical sunny day the dynamic range of a scene is greater than our ability to capture and reproduce so we can't always have complete detail end to end. In that case we choose to let some detail drop into black. It's OK for a photo to have some solid black in it. In fact we expect that and force it if needed. On the other end it's almost never expected or accepted to burn out color and detail in the highlights. You're going to have to look long and hard to find a photographer who will agree to that.

I think one of points of trouble for you here is the problem of lighting contrast and/or variable dynamic range. Rule number 1: You can't photograph everything you see as is. If the scene has an extreme dynamic range (dappled sunlight in the forest, backlight, etc.) you have a condition of prohibitive lighting. Prohibitive lighting means there's no good photograph to be taken unless you can physically alter the lighting. For example when a photographer goes to take a backlit portrait s/he applies forward flash fill or uses a reflector. It won't work otherwise.

The histogram for your image holds the info that you need. Learn to read and understand that graph. That's the key. Most cameras will display the scene histogram before you trip the shutter.

Joe

 

[KmH]

IIRC you use Lightroom?

If so, do you know how to use the Exposure and Blacks sliders in 'clipping mode' to show what parts of a photo are blown, or blocked (completely black, no detail)?

You can also turn on 'clipping mode' for both ends of the histogram display.